The following is a speech that I wrote and presented while I was at Bible College...may it be an encouragement to all who read it...
Am I beautiful?
My Dad and my brothers tell me that I am, but honestly, they don’t really count. I need to be beautiful to everyone, not just men, women too. Now, how am I going to fill this great need in my life? Well the TV portrays thin, beautiful women on all the commercials so I guess I should try and be like them, then maybe I will get the attention and acceptance that I so strongly desire. Now, what do I do first? Take a trip to Wal-Mart and pick out some foundation to cover all those blemishes that I see everywhere in the mirror and then I must figure out how to lose some weight. Maybe I’ll become a vegetarian and exercise for an hour each day. Yeah, that should do it.
(one week later)
Ok so I’ve been eating differently and exercising and yet I don’t see any results of my hard work. Maybe I should just stop eating altogether. I also spent over one hundred dollars on make-up last week. I don’t get it, I was sure that make-up and changing my eating and exercise would make me more beautiful. But I still don’t have a boyfriend and I’m still not very popular with the girls at school. I’ll try dying my hair and tanning, maybe that will help.
(one month later)
Wow, I lost like 40 pounds and the only attention that I have gotten is negative attention. My parents and girlfriends are concerned about my weight loss and the only attention from guys that I have been getting is from guys who don’t really love and care about me. And the girls at school? I think they are jealous of me and so they want nothing to do with me. What does it take to be beautiful anyways? Yes, I know that God loves me just the way that I am, but I still desire to be beautiful to people. What is a woman to do?
Now how many of us women can identify somehow with the woman I just portrayed?
Most women may not voice their thoughts the way that I just did, but in reality, I believe that all of us, somewhere inside, want desperately to be beautiful.
An article that I found online states that in our world, people are constantly saying how you have to look and dress and act. They are constantly pressuring us to conform to what they say is beautiful. Tell me, who are they to say what is beautiful? Who are they to say what is worth more? God's creation is beautiful, and He doesn't make mistakes. When you start thinking along the lines of what the world says about beauty and putting your appearance down, you are saying that God did a bad job. That is a lie. God knit you together in your mother's womb ever so perfectly. From your eye color to your hair color to your personality to your genes, God purposely created you this way, and you know what? He is enthralled by your beauty. Psalm 45:11 says, “Hear, O daughter, and consider, and incline your ear: forget your people and your father’s house, and the king will desire your beauty. Since he is your lord, bow to him.” Being beautiful to God should be top priority on every woman’s list.
But do we really understand what beauty is?
A book that I highly recommend called Captivating says that, “Beauty is the most essential and, yes, the most misunderstood of all the feminine qualities. It is an essence every woman carries from the moment of her creation. The only things standing in the way of our beauty are our doubts and fears, and the hiding and striving we fall to as a result.”
All women struggle with beauty at some point in their lives and some of us conform to the pattern of this world more than others. As soon as we begin to question our beauty and try to “fit in” to the world around us, we can easily become obsessed with losing weight and getting the newest fashions and make-up and eventually, our thoughts are consumed and we are trapped by the bondage of a false definition of beauty. So what is the true definition of beauty anyways? I think it is important to go to God with this question since His Word is the ultimate source of truth.
One passage in the Bible that speaks very clearly to this issue of beauty is 1 Peter 3:3-4 which says, “Do not let your adorning be external - the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewellery, or the clothing you wear - but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God‘s sight is very precious.” A couple of different commentaries sum up the meaning of these verses in saying, “While the world prizes costly clothing and gold jewelry, a woman with a gentle and quiet spirit is precious to God. Peter did not state that women should not wear jewelry and nice clothes, but that Christian women should not think of outer attire as the source of genuine beauty.” “Here Peter also assures women of their dignity and freedom through Jesus Christ. Our worth doesn’t depend on beauty or fashion, but on God’s love for us.” “And to have a gentle and quiet spirit is to have a heart of faith, a heart that trusts God, a spirit that has been quieted by his love and filled with his peace. Not a heart that is striving and restless.”
Another key verse in understanding true beauty is 1 Samuel 16:7 which says, “But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.” The point made here is crucial to understand. God looks on the heart and sees our thoughts and intents and most importantly, He judges us by our heart; not by the majesty of our looks or the strength and stature of our bodies. True beauty is found within.
As a challenge for the guys, encourage women when you see our godly character shine through. Although compliments that address our outer appearance can be encouraging; it is way more meaningful to hear compliments that address our character. Yes, this takes a lot of thinking and effort, but saying genuine things like, “ Hey, I am encouraged by your faithfulness in serving others,” and/or, “I appreciate your friendliness towards others.” Compliments like these are way more meaningful and will help us to have more focus on developing our inner beauty rather than on making ourselves look beautiful on the outside. Remember Proverbs 31:30, “Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.” Outer beauty will fade, but inner beauty lasts forever.
I will conclude with another quote from the book Captivating, “A woman in her glory, a woman of beauty, is a woman who is not striving to become beautiful or worthy enough. She knows in her quiet center where God dwells that he finds her beautiful, has deemed her worthy, and in him, she is enough.”
To provoke some final thought watch this.
Am I beautiful?
My Dad and my brothers tell me that I am, but honestly, they don’t really count. I need to be beautiful to everyone, not just men, women too. Now, how am I going to fill this great need in my life? Well the TV portrays thin, beautiful women on all the commercials so I guess I should try and be like them, then maybe I will get the attention and acceptance that I so strongly desire. Now, what do I do first? Take a trip to Wal-Mart and pick out some foundation to cover all those blemishes that I see everywhere in the mirror and then I must figure out how to lose some weight. Maybe I’ll become a vegetarian and exercise for an hour each day. Yeah, that should do it.
(one week later)
Ok so I’ve been eating differently and exercising and yet I don’t see any results of my hard work. Maybe I should just stop eating altogether. I also spent over one hundred dollars on make-up last week. I don’t get it, I was sure that make-up and changing my eating and exercise would make me more beautiful. But I still don’t have a boyfriend and I’m still not very popular with the girls at school. I’ll try dying my hair and tanning, maybe that will help.
(one month later)
Wow, I lost like 40 pounds and the only attention that I have gotten is negative attention. My parents and girlfriends are concerned about my weight loss and the only attention from guys that I have been getting is from guys who don’t really love and care about me. And the girls at school? I think they are jealous of me and so they want nothing to do with me. What does it take to be beautiful anyways? Yes, I know that God loves me just the way that I am, but I still desire to be beautiful to people. What is a woman to do?
Now how many of us women can identify somehow with the woman I just portrayed?
Most women may not voice their thoughts the way that I just did, but in reality, I believe that all of us, somewhere inside, want desperately to be beautiful.
An article that I found online states that in our world, people are constantly saying how you have to look and dress and act. They are constantly pressuring us to conform to what they say is beautiful. Tell me, who are they to say what is beautiful? Who are they to say what is worth more? God's creation is beautiful, and He doesn't make mistakes. When you start thinking along the lines of what the world says about beauty and putting your appearance down, you are saying that God did a bad job. That is a lie. God knit you together in your mother's womb ever so perfectly. From your eye color to your hair color to your personality to your genes, God purposely created you this way, and you know what? He is enthralled by your beauty. Psalm 45:11 says, “Hear, O daughter, and consider, and incline your ear: forget your people and your father’s house, and the king will desire your beauty. Since he is your lord, bow to him.” Being beautiful to God should be top priority on every woman’s list.
But do we really understand what beauty is?
A book that I highly recommend called Captivating says that, “Beauty is the most essential and, yes, the most misunderstood of all the feminine qualities. It is an essence every woman carries from the moment of her creation. The only things standing in the way of our beauty are our doubts and fears, and the hiding and striving we fall to as a result.”
All women struggle with beauty at some point in their lives and some of us conform to the pattern of this world more than others. As soon as we begin to question our beauty and try to “fit in” to the world around us, we can easily become obsessed with losing weight and getting the newest fashions and make-up and eventually, our thoughts are consumed and we are trapped by the bondage of a false definition of beauty. So what is the true definition of beauty anyways? I think it is important to go to God with this question since His Word is the ultimate source of truth.
One passage in the Bible that speaks very clearly to this issue of beauty is 1 Peter 3:3-4 which says, “Do not let your adorning be external - the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewellery, or the clothing you wear - but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God‘s sight is very precious.” A couple of different commentaries sum up the meaning of these verses in saying, “While the world prizes costly clothing and gold jewelry, a woman with a gentle and quiet spirit is precious to God. Peter did not state that women should not wear jewelry and nice clothes, but that Christian women should not think of outer attire as the source of genuine beauty.” “Here Peter also assures women of their dignity and freedom through Jesus Christ. Our worth doesn’t depend on beauty or fashion, but on God’s love for us.” “And to have a gentle and quiet spirit is to have a heart of faith, a heart that trusts God, a spirit that has been quieted by his love and filled with his peace. Not a heart that is striving and restless.”
Another key verse in understanding true beauty is 1 Samuel 16:7 which says, “But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.” The point made here is crucial to understand. God looks on the heart and sees our thoughts and intents and most importantly, He judges us by our heart; not by the majesty of our looks or the strength and stature of our bodies. True beauty is found within.
As a challenge for the guys, encourage women when you see our godly character shine through. Although compliments that address our outer appearance can be encouraging; it is way more meaningful to hear compliments that address our character. Yes, this takes a lot of thinking and effort, but saying genuine things like, “ Hey, I am encouraged by your faithfulness in serving others,” and/or, “I appreciate your friendliness towards others.” Compliments like these are way more meaningful and will help us to have more focus on developing our inner beauty rather than on making ourselves look beautiful on the outside. Remember Proverbs 31:30, “Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.” Outer beauty will fade, but inner beauty lasts forever.
I will conclude with another quote from the book Captivating, “A woman in her glory, a woman of beauty, is a woman who is not striving to become beautiful or worthy enough. She knows in her quiet center where God dwells that he finds her beautiful, has deemed her worthy, and in him, she is enough.”
To provoke some final thought watch this.
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